Hi Everyone. I’m catching up on a lot of things tonight and I thought sitting down to share about one of my new projects should definitely one of them. For over a year now I’ve been giving classes in NYC and talking about the art of lucid dreaming. One of the things that I’ve heard from a lot of people is that they enjoyed the workshops but were wondering if there was a way to follow up to make it easier for them to develop a regular practice. Even I’ll admit that there’s a lot of things to learn and process when it comes to delving into the world of dreams. One thing that I came to realize that it really helps to have other people to share the journey with. Even though dreaming is an amazingly personal experience we often are blind to many of the messages that come to us. Its amazing what a little shift in perspective can do to illuminate what our dreams are trying to tell us.
Sharing our dreams can be amazingly healing. One of the greatest benefits of becoming part of a dream meet up group is that you get to put yourself in the shoes of others. You get to see the real fears of people which in many cases are quite similar to your own. A friend talked to me the other day about how he heard 20 people talk about their dreams one day. He was amazed by how similar they all were! When we consider that we all feel the same emotions its really not that crazy of a thought. It seems like we are so separate but we are all working with very similar building blocks that make up our life experience. Once we realize that I believe it makes life a little bit more manageable. Its some what comforting to know that your anger is the same as some one else’. It may even look different when it is expressed in waking life or in a dream. We are all on a journey of learning and I think if we can be there for each other as we go through our own personal transformations then we will all be stronger for it.
I hope to see you at one of the upcoming Shamanic Dream Collective gatherings soon. Our next meet up is on June 22nd at 8pm at Golden Drum 97 Green St Apt G24 Brooklyn, NY. Until then, much love.
I am excited to announce that my next workshop will be overnight. Since the subject matter is lucid dreaming, it only makes sense that we should be able to sleep during the workshop. Once the idea came to me, I knew this was the natural progression of how the class should be taught. It is great to know that this is finally coming to fruition. The workshop is made for all skill levels. Everyone from the seasoned dream yogi to the person who can’t remember their dreams is welcome. Together we will learn how to use our dreams as tools for personal development. In the morning we will share our experiences with one another as a group. There will also be an organic vegetarian breakfast served that is included in the price of admission. I believe that our dreams and visions are gifts and if we only keep them to ourselves then it is like we are stealing. Together we can share and develop our own lucid dreaming practice.
This poster was an exceptional challenge. My computer is getting repaired and I have been using one that doesn’t have Photoshop. As a result I used some colored paper that I’ve had laying around for a while to create the poster. It was fun to work with my hands a little. Cutting everything out was quite laborious but I’m happy with how it looks. There’s a certain tactile quality that you can try to imitate with computers but it’s just out of reach. The way the shadows fall off the edges of the paper is something that I could never do with an effect. My roommate let me use his computer to add in the type. This has made me very thankful for functioning computers. I will be happy to have mine back soon but I am also thankful for this exercise in patience and using scissors.
Thank you again to everyone who came to the workshop the other night. I was in a yoga class the last week and in tree pose and a thought popped into my head. Usually ideas come in and out and just like a dream they disappear before I have a chance to write them down. That’s my signal that it probably wasn’t a good idea to begin with. However this one stuck around till after I got out of class. The idea was to create this piece above for people who come to my workshop.
The symbol is the Tibetan letter A. It is used for visualization exercises in the Tibetan dream yoga practice. In dream yoga, the symbol represents the natural non dual state of the mind. During meditation the practitioner is to look at the symbol while meditating without shifting his or her gaze. It is also recommended not to think about the A, but to simply allow it to be within one’s awareness. Once the image is clear in one’s mind, they are to close the eyes and visualize it. The next progression is to visualize being the symbol itself. After this is achieved, one should try to release all images and simply become the essence on the A itself. It is good to give yourself enough time at each step.
It is also recommended to use the A as a point of focus as you are falling asleep. It is said to rest at the throat chakra and is to be visualized as a red four pedaled flower that faces up to the sky with the A in the middle. There is a mantra that corresponds to the four pedals. RA, for the pedal facing front, LA to the left, SHA to the back, and SA to the right. This practice will bring about peaceful dreams and more restful sleep.
It has been noted that my design has a certain Looney Toons feel to it. I was actually thinking about that while I was making it. I’ve always been a fan so I thought why not add a hint of that Merry Melodies flavor. I hope this brings your practice many fruitful experiences. That’s all for now folks!
Eve will be at the workshop on Thursday at the alignment center talking a little bit about her Elixirs and the ability of herbs to aid in our dream practice.
Since a young age, I have witnessed firsthand how beneficial it can be to harness plant intelligence in one’s life. I was raised very unconventionally in a household whose belief system was very earth-based; we never to the traditional medical doctor, and instead found all remedies through plants and a plant-based diet. Growing up with this truth has inspired me and made me passionate about sharing my knowledge and experience with botanicals. I craft herbal elixirs as an effort to a promote longevity, vibrant health and a deeper awareness of the human experience. I’m looking forward to sharing my Lucid Dreaming Elixir at The Lucid Dream workshop.
Eve will also be selling her elixirs at the workshop and talking more about how they can aid in our dream practice.
People told me to go see Inception ever since the trailer came out. “There’s this sweet movie about lucid dreaming you gotta check out!” I like to know as little as possible about a movie before going to see it. This instance was particularly difficult because I had a lot of people who wanted to tell me how awesome it was. Luckily I dodged the spoilers and reviews and got to see it with fresh eyes. I have to say I was really please with the movie. I think it did what it set out to do really well. It also made the subject of lucid dreaming open to millions of people. A movie about dreams has a great potential to be very ungrounded and difficult for many to relate to. It was definitely nice knowing about different levels of consciousness and lucid dreaming going into it. One criticism I have is that Inception only scraped the surface of how we can potentially manipulate our dreams. I think Nolan was really trying to satisfy the imagination of people with the more surrealist scenes earlier in the movie. The cafe scene and the building folding were really spectacular cinematic experiences. That alone, for me, was worth the price of admission. There are also some great homages to M.C. Escher showing some great ways to play with dream space. I think it’s pretty tough to make an entire movie with that same type of visual candy but I couldn’t help but wish there was a little more.
I also was disappointed that the main form of attack in the movie were guns. How uncreative! You could create a wall or just travel to another country with a thought. I was also kind of hoping for some flying sequences but no dice on that one. Flying is one of the most common and amazing elements of a lucid dream and I just kind of assumed that it would be part of the movie. At the same time, I understand that having gravity work in a more realistic way is important in making the movie less fantastical. As with many of Nolan’s movies, I think it was a deliberate choice not to have people flying and manifesting things to happen at will. Knowing his style, he also likes to use as little special effects as possible. It makes his movies more believable to people who might not be as familiar with the subject. Instead, I think he did a great job of letting his concepts and story line satisfy the imagination of the viewer.
It is very easy to have a movie about dream become labeled as science fiction. Instead, it has been categorized as more of an action adventure and a drama. Because of this, I think that Inception will give lucid dreaming more respect and make people think about it more as a part of reality instead of fantasy. I definitely encourage anyone who hasn’t seen the movie to go out and take a look. I’ll be talking more about it in my workshop next week. Until then, sweet lucid dreams.
I’m pleased to announce my next workshop at the Alignment Center Thursday August 19th. With the movie Inception just coming out, there has been an increased buzz about lucid dreaming. It’s exciting to know that so many people are interested in this subject. At the next workshop, I will show some more animations which will help illustrate some concepts of lucid dreaming. We will go deeper into the mystery of the dream and more importantly how we can become aware within it. The dream is a tool that has been used by cultures from across the world for as long as recorded history. It is obvious that this essential element of the human experience is no less important to us today then it was thousands of years ago.
As for the poster, the design was inspired by the art of the Huichol people of Mexico. They have beautiful yarn paintings and intricate bead work. Their use of color is almost childlike, but has an amazing luminous quality that I’ve seen in few other places. I have some friends who have a great project to make sure the Huichol community has clean water to drink. The organization is called Water for Huichols. You can view their crafts online and buy them and the money goes to help the cause. Visit them at http://www.ecozoicera.net/ Sweet dreams.
Here’s the latest animation from my Dream Signs series. More on the way. The nice one about this technique is that once you do it you’re already thinking about flying. Just a quick recap of a dream I had the other night. I was lucid and was just standing there looking at my hands. They wobbled and morphed before my eyes. I looked at the guy next to me and asked him if it was happening to him as well. It seemed like I was the only one that had it going on at the time. I hopped into the dog washing van from Dummer and Dummer as it drove by. I was in the van still perfectly lucid and I was wondering if there was anyone else in the van that was dreaming as well so I told them all that it was a dream. They didn’t seem impressed at all. So I decided to ask a question. “What is a dream?” A man appeared next to me and said quite simply, “Grammar.” It seemed so bizarre that I had to ask him to repeat himself. “Grammar,” he replied again. “It is the grammar of the soul.” I didn’t understand it intellectually after he said it. Sometimes things are so deep and yet so simple in dreams that I have a hard time understanding the meaning behind it as its happening. I simply made a point to remember the man’s answer and went on with my dream.
I’m still mulling the whole thing over. Maybe I’ll see him again and ask him to elaborate a little. Maybe you have an idea. Sweet dreams.
I’ve been thinking about the apparent speed of dreams. When we are in the dream it seems to be moving just as quickly as our waking life. However, most of our dreams only last about 5 minutes when they can appear to last hours. So you can say that creativity is moving at a higher speed or frequency than the ordinary state of the conscious mind. Maybe remembering our dreams could be compared to getting off the highway. If you want to make a smooth exit with you car intact you need to decelerate gradually to make a safe and complete stop. If we want to retain our dream experience we need to foster an environment that allows our mind to retain our experience by realizing that we are going through a large shift in consciousness.
Maybe another way to look at it is thinking about our dream experience like an egg. When we wake up we decide the future of the egg. Does it splat against the alarm clock as we become startled and realize that we’re late for work? Does it land safely into a pile of feathers as we wake up with the awareness that we are awake and safe in our bed with plenty of time to get ready for the day? Does it land at all? Perhaps it remains suspended in air as we see it from all angles. Once I have fully processed, I would like to cook that egg and eat it for breakfast! Yum! We all need to learn how we can better guide this delicate transition along. Then we can begin to develop our dream recall in a very powerful way. The choice is ours.
Continuing with dream signs, here’s another video that I made. I have to say that this of my favorite tests because it’s really easy and super reliable. Sometimes my hands don’t change shape enough by just using my will. Another quick option is to take hold of a finger and pull with the intention to stretch it. There have been times when I have to pull with considerable effort. Eventually you’ll stretch your finger to the point where you’ve convinced yourself that you’re in a dream. I haven’t tried to stretch other parts of the body but I imagine that it would work just as well. The other nice thing about this test is that you can do it through out the day with out looking too much like a weirdo. I tend to get some looks when I’m jumping in place on the subway platform to see if I’ll float in the air. Whatever seems to work for you.
Also try to think of a trigger that helps you to do reality checks. Maybe its every time you go through a door, or look at a clock, or maybe its bracelet on your wrist, or when you see your reflection, or when you see someone you know. There are so many but pick something that will naturally fit into your daily routine. Then when you have one stick with it! The longer you practice it, the more likely you’ll remember to use it in your dreams. Sweet dreamin!
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